iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Now that I live on the coast, I am having an absolutely DELIGHTFUL time being like "well, on the way home from the store, let me just check what the docks have real quick" and then this is what the docks have:

A white-lined dirona, a transluscent nudibranch with opaque white lines outlining each of its shingled teardrop-shaped cerrata, crawls across brown encrusting bryozoans.

A shag rug nudibranch with numerous gray and white cerata seems to "peer" forward with its chemical-sensing rhinophores. It is wedged between two large barnacles.

A painted anemone with hypnotic peach-colored rings on its stinging tentacles is framed by two white Metridium anemones, and in the bottom, more red pom-poms from feather duster worms fill the frame.

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Exciting news: iNaturalist is implementing a fully community-based system of ID tips where the community makes tips and then votes on the most useful ones. www.inaturalist.org/posts/132065... This is a big anti-AI victory as before they had planned to use LLM-generated tips trained on comments.

inaturalist.org

New search and sort tool: Identification Tips

Starting today, you can explore Identification Tips: a new search and sort tool for finding the most helpful remarks for identifying various species. Key takeaways Identification Tips is a new tab on...

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@halfmoonjoe.com an official Her account acknowledged Bachel???

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

A surprisingly philosophical caveat from a 1944 manual of chicken diseases.

"No attempt will be made to define what we see as either normal or abnormal, that is something that each person must decide for himself,"

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

I was in the airport coming off a red-eye flight when I blearily saw a backpack emblazoned with the motto "WE SLEEP IN MAY" and my first thought was "I don't know what that is for, but clearly that person is NOT a birder"

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

This is my take on the situation. Anyone you think should be moved up or down?

A tierlist of north american wood warblers ranked by how painful they are to observe in terms of warbler neck from craning your neck looking up at the tree canopy. Fortunately, this condition is unlikely to affect low-vision birders, whose difficulty is more likely to be based on song characteristics (e.g. how loud, unique, and frequent it is)

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Yes! Also remember that a lot of people resistant to getting rid of their entire lawn are open to shrinking it. Evaluate what is actually needed for a play surface etc. and then expand native plant beds outward over time :)

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Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

It’s earth day!! 🌎 plant a pesticide free native 🌱 🌎 switch your energy supplier to a renewable 🌎 take transit instead of an uber 🌎 then make fun of your friends (lovingly) for taking Ubers when the train is right! there! 🌎 heckle your family members. About whatever you want! It’s earth day!!!

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

About to be run out of Maryland by a mob wielding pitchforks and crab pots for saying this, but celery salt is disgusting and so Old Bay is also disgusting. Love crab though!

A blue-and-yellow can of Old Bay Seasoning "For Seafood, Poultry, Salads, Meats: Same great taste for over 75 years" with a pile of reddish-brown seasoning mix in front of it

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Someone is at work making sure there are blueberries later :)

A tiny metallic shiny green and gold bee hangs upside-down from urn-shaped coral-colored flowers. The bee has white pollen all over its little face.

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

ORCIDs having so many digits is beautiful. They envision a future where our knowledge rests on the shoulders of up to nine quadrillion nine hundred ninety-nine trillion nine hundred ninety-nine billion nine hundred ninety-nine million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine giants

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invertebrate @crevicedwelling.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

reading about organisms that aren’t your specialty is like margins of the quorbus eplungulate, ploobular processes bent posteriorly towards the foobulum define term “eplungulate” - lacking plungae. synonym: thubulous

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

These flowers are from 3 families, but they look quite similar. Do any #botanists, #entomologists or forest-floor enthusiasts know if there's some kind of spring ephemeral #pollination syndrome? (1: bloodroot - Papaveraceae; 2: rue anemone - Ranunculaceae 3: twinleaf/jeffersonia - Berberidaceae)

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis). Two large, white-petaled flowers with golden stamens growing from the leaf-covered forest floor. Each flower rises on a pink stalk with a single, elaborately-lobed leaf reminiscent of Monstera.

Rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides). A single dark pink stalk rises from the leaf-covered forest floor. The stalk has two clusters of three-lobed, paw-shaped leavs and two flowers atop it. The flowers are large and white with golden stamens.

Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla). Two large white-petaled flowers with golden stamens around a large globe-shaped ovary rise from the forest floor, framed between two fallen logs. The flower stalks are pink, and each has a folded, pointed twin pair of leaves attached to it.

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Benjamin Boumard @bboumard.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Worm people HELP!! Any idea what this beauty might be? Collected in a tide pool in Eastern Taiwan.

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Has anyone figured out why if you want to warm a cinnamon roll at home it takes 15 seconds in the microwave but if you say yes to having your pastry warmed at a café they will place it into some kind of arcane warming contraption that takes 47 minutes?

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

I googled "lactic acid insect microscopy" and this was the mysterious result

"Mic-UK: Safe microscopic techniques for amateurs. Lactic acid is not a forbidden substance. It is a clear liquid which has a"

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

He has vanquished a much larger foe

A small toy orca sitting atop a full-sized orca skull replica

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

The King Arthur Flour madeleine base recipes for vanilla and chocolate inexplicably use the two different leavening methods (vanilla = traditional, whipping air into eggs; chocolate = nontraditional, baking powder). I was curious to see what the result would be...

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Ethan Linck @elinck.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

anyone have experience fragmenting DNA for WGS library prep with a Qsonica Q800R3? effective covaris alternative, or ineffective trap for cheapskates?

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Dr Rachael Miller (Harrison) @drrmiller.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

So excited that our first major empirical @themanybirds.bsky.social paper is now out in @plosbiology.org! Leading this big team science project, with our excellent core leadership team, is a labour of love for me, delighted to see our hard work over the past 4 years has reached this milestone!

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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them) @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

ooooh new paper out today. a couple of years ago a big group of us were like "hey let's spend a few weeks painstakingly looking up the sources of every official bird common name" and as of today, you too can join us in our ornitholetymological (yes i made that up) rabbit-hole:

journals.plos.org

AvianLexiconAtlas: A database of descriptive categories of English-language bird names around the world

Common names of species are important for communicating with the general public. In principle, these names should provide an accessible way to engage with and identify species. The common names of spe...

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

My science communication pet peeve is people always putting photos of needles or a person being actively vaccinated as the photos to go alongside articles about vaccine hesitancy etc. when it's an extremely common phobia trigger that does not help the case for vaccines at all.

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Silly #birds thought to break up your feed: there've been many discussions about what the most beautiful bird song is (e.g. Winter Wren, Hermit Thrush), but what do you think is the ugliest, most ear-grating bird song? I would like to contend: Yellow-headed Blackbird. Can anyone beat this?

xeno-canto.org

Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) :: xeno-canto

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Exactly! Before transgenic bacteria that can basically 3D print human insulin, patients were treated with insulin from slaughtered livestock. Cow/pig insulin didn't work very well and many people were allergic to it and couldn't take it. They simply died.

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Scott Hadland, MD @drscotthadland.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

Amid today’s massive NIH cuts to universities, please know that my research colleagues: - Develop new cancer treatments for kids - Are curing sickle cell disease - Build new tech to help premature babies survive - Prevent teens from dying of drug overdose - And more #NIH #MedSky #research #science

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Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

🧵 🔭 🧪 1/ An international research team has discovered a new giant radio galaxy dubbed “Inkathazo,” meaning “trouble” in African languages such as Xhosa and Zulu. Source➡️ sarao.ac.za/news/the-age... The discovery, obtained using South Africa's Meerkat interferometer, offers new insights into

The image shows the newly discovered giant radio galaxy ‘Inkathazo’. The glowing plasma jets, as seen by the MeerKAT telescope, are shown in red and yellow. The starlight from other surrounding galaxies can be seen in the background.

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Timoria McQueen Saba, Candidate for Georgia House District 68 @timoriamcqueen.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Lewis Howard Latimer 9/4/1848– 12/11/1928 was an American inventor and patent draftsman. His inventions included an evaporative air conditioner, an improved process for manufacturing carbon filaments for electric light bulbs, and an improved toilet system for railroad cars. #Blackhistorymonth

Lewis Howard Latimer (September 4, 1848 – December 11, 1928) was an American inventor and patent draftsman.

His inventions included an evaporative air conditioner, an improved process for manufacturing carbon filaments for electric light bulbs, and an improved toilet system for railroad cars.

In 1884, he joined the Edison Electric Light Company where he worked as a draftsman.

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Janet Hill @saskajanet.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

Happy #WorldWetlandsDay to all who celebrate. Wetlands help reduce climate change impacts, they sustain the water we drink, and they support an amazing diversity of wildlife. In short: wetlands rock 🌿

Black bird with vivid yellow chest and head is perched on a brown cattail stem. The bird's head is thrown back as it calls. There is a second similar bird in the background, out of focus: a neighbour declaring its territory.

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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

If you have been affected by the fires in LA, or are concerned about your ability to keep precious Drosophila strains going during the latest funding crisis, we will host your strains as a backup. Please email me. Please amplify. If you are also able to host fly strains, add your name as well.

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

The Bristle-thighed Curlew range is because they saw one of those maps with Alaska and Hawaii next to each other and thought it would be a reasonable migration, only to realize it was a huge mistake, but there's no going back now.

Map of US with Alaska and Hawaii incorrectly sized and located next to each other floating south of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Bristle-thighed Curlew range map from Cornell Laboratory of Birds, where their orange colored breeding range is in Alaska, and their blue wintering range is scattered across Pacific islands including the Hawaiian archipelago.

Image of a Bristle-thighed Curlew, a large brown and tan speckled shorebird with a long curving pink bill, standing in a field of bright green vegetation. Photo credit is Brian Harry/wikimedia commons as I have never seen one. :(

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Carol Pope Gordon @carolpopegordon.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

You are being inspected by a Plate-billed Mountain Toucan so act accordingly. 🪶 #ArtAdventCalendar

Large toucan with golden brown body, red eyes and yellow cheeks crouching on a branch

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Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Sharks eating dinosaurs! At the charming National Museum in Prague. Totally morbid paleoart. But based on one of the few Czech dinosaur fossils, an ornithopod bone crisscrossed with the razor blade bites of sharks.

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

Reminds me of middle school algebra--my classmate frustratedly asked the teacher WHY we had to keep solving for the variable when the teacher already KNEW the answer! Who knew, she was ahead of her time :')

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

For #MammalMonday let's look at the Eastern Chipmunk. Infinitely easier to identify compared to the Western species since out here we only have the one. "Chipmunk" is an Anglicization of Ojibwe "ajidamoonh," meaning "head first," or "one who descends trees headlong." An apt name to be sure.

A chipmunk chewing on a nut held in both hands sits on a moss-covered log in Rock Creek Park, Washington DC.

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Chris Thorogood @christhorogood.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

A watercolour illustration I've just completed featuring the Canary Island endemic succulent, Euphorbia handiensis:

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David Tan @mangrovepitta.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Sorry about the late reply, currently being swamped by emails. The emails:

Abusing the compute cluster with multiple concurrently running jobs

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Murk @ginkgogoes.bsky.social · 07/12/2024

Day 7 of #ArtAdventCalendar: a little ringed plover a-walking! #birds #digitalart

A digital oil painting of a front-facing little ringed plover walking on some gravel against a bluish olive green background.

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Alex Elizabeth Byrne McMillan @undeniablyalex.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

WRITER OF 'WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS': And then we end on wishing them a happy new year, and that's the song 😊 FIGGY PUDDING MARKETING DEPARTMENT: Great! Just one minor suggestion

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Someone having a bit of fun with it at the NYT crossword desk. I could hear it 😂

Crossword clue that says "Way of getting online that might sound like "beep beep beeHAW beeHAW beeeeeep SHRHRHRHRH"

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JP @jpbrammer.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Completed at last. My heinous gift guide for sworn enemies. Enjoy this curated list of cursed objects. Bequeath one to your detested foe! open.substack.com/pub/holapapi...

open.substack.com

My Heinous Gift Guide for Sworn Enemies

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal

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Alex Wild @alexwild.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

I just love the ways bugs try not to be found. Here's a Phytocoris lichen-mimic plant bug from Texas, if you can see it. #Miridae

Photograph of a patch of papery blue-gray lichen on tree bark, with a few flecks of yellow lichen here and there. At lower left is... something? the same color, with long legs, blending in.

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Emily Tull SGFA @artbyemilytull.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Portrait 4 in the series is "The clarity of untangling the threads (portrait of a stitch artist) Sue Spence" thread painting - hand embroidery artwork. #portraitartist #HandStitch #StitchArt #FigurativeArt #artist #art

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

I love this! Going down the rabbit hole and finding things no one else could gives me so much joy... as long as I'm not the one who misplaced the thing in the first place, because who likes searching for car keys?

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

Just another #MallardMonday. Here's a Mallard hen shaking off after washing herself. Did you know that Mallards are the bird species with the highest recorded number of species its produced offspring with (39!!!!)?

A mallard hen lit golden by the setting sun, with brown and tan striped plumage, shakes her head, spraying water droplets everywhere over a greenish pond.

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Shauna Rasband @concealocanth.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Good morning. Here's a little jelly mushroom (Leotia species). This little guy is an #Ascomycete, meaning that it's more closely related to the #yeast in a pizza crust than it is to the #mushroom slices on top. Is it too early for pizza? I want pizza.

An ochre colored slimy mushroom with a small wrinkled cap and a hairy stem peeks up among moss and duff.

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Katya Isabelle Bandow @botanykat.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

this has to be the prettiest cladogram i've ever seen! #botany #plantscience #phylogeny #sciart #twitterrepost

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Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. @arctomet.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

As I share around this time of year, the various derived features on the turkey skeleton, and where they first emerge on the phylogeny of dinosaurs:

Skeleton of turkey (by Matthew Wedel) marked with the derived traits from various points on the dinosaur family tree as found in that species.

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